Learning To Breathe
by friendsqueen216
Summary: Rory and Jess spend the night together, what happens when Rory begins her job as a surgical intern at the same hospital where Jess is a neurosurgeon? Based on Grey's Anatomy. Lit.


**AN**: This is totally Alternative Universe. So Lorelai and Christopher were surgical interns when they got together, and Lorelai ended up pregnant. After Rory was born, Lorelai began struggling from Post Partum Depression, after a month, she fled leaving Christopher and Rory to fend for themselves. Christopher getting a job opportunity at a California hospital headed west with Rory. Lorelai, eventually was treated for her depression, and returned back to New York to be with her family, but found them gone. Lorelai in her guilt figured they were better off, and let them be. Rory just thinks her mother abandoned them; she has no idea about the depression. You also need to know everyone mentioned as doctors graduated High School, went to college, and medical school; even if they didn't in the actual show. The rest you should be able to pick up Oh, Dr. Abdoo is Gypsy, and Dr. Wilcox is Marty.  
**Disclaimer: **Just my idea of a story, I don't own Gilmore Girls or grey's Anatomy.

* * *

Learning To Breathe  
Chapter 1

* * *

Rory Gilmore groaned in bed. She heard the alarm clock go off, and she swiftly moved her hands towards her eyes, opening them slowly. She wanted to savor every last minute of sleep, knowing she wouldn't be getting any for the next five years. She rolled over and felt her arm hit against something, it felt like a body. She touched it again, and it let out a groan. Yes, it's definitely human, Rory concluded. She grabbed a sheet, and wrapped it around herself. She stood up, and looked at him. She had left a blanket covering him, so she couldn't see anything, although she had seen it all last night. She didn't know anything about him, but here he was lying in her bed.

She examined him. He was cute. He had messy black hair, and he was well toned. He was tall, and he had brown eyes if she remembered from last night. She saw him opening his eyes, and noted that they were indeed brown. When he woke up he put a head over his head and said to himself, "Jeez, I really should remember not to have too much to drink."

She held her hands to her side, looking at him; he hadn't seemed to have noticed she was in the room yet. He slowly looked around, and his eyes landed on her. He seemed to examine her in five seconds, and he smiled to himself at the look of her with her hands on her waist. She was now using her chin not to make sure the sheet didn't fall that was covering her body. He knew if he was going to have sex with someone at least he did it with someone like her. She lifted her chin, moved her hands, and held up the sheet with them. She said quietly, "Good morning."

He smirked back in response, "It is indeed. You know it wouldn't be such a tragedy if the sheet fell."

She blushed, but seemed to recover in an instant, "Oh, but it would. Look last night was fun…"

"Yeah," He nodded in response, "I actually thought so too. Do you maybe want to do it again? Except this time I could maybe take you out to dinner, you could show me some good places…"

She gave a weak smile, "I'm new in town. I don't know any places here."

"Right, you told me that last night." He said, "So what do you say, we can wing it or I can use zagat…"

"If you let me finish I was going to say that last night was fun, but I'm not really in the mood for a relationship right now. I'm new in town. I'm starting at a new job. I'm reinventing myself. And I just can't have a boyfriend right now, I'm sorry." Rory said quietly.

The man smiled at her, "No, I understand. Reinventing yourself, eh? That's liberating."

She nodded, "I really am sorry. I just can't."

"Don't worry about it. I've been hurt before." He smirked.

She smiled lightly, "Okay…well then I'm going to get ready. It's my first day on the job. So I'm going to take a shower, and when I get out you'll be gone, right?"

"Right." He agreed.

"Okay, well then bye…" She said hoping he'd fill in the blank, and tell her his name.

He laughed, "Jess. I'm Jess. And you are?"

"Rory. Well bye Jess." She said, and headed off towards the bathroom.

Jess gathered his stuff, and as he was making his way out of her building, he whispered, "Bye Rory."

* * *

Dr. Lorelai Danes looked over the list of incoming interns again, double checking to make sure her eyes were working properly; _Janet Billings M.D, Paris Geller M.D, Lorelai Gilmore M.D…_

Her daughter was going to be an intern at her hospital. Her daughter, the one who she had abandoned, was going to be working at her surgical department. Lorelai felt her heart speed up at the thought; she'd get to see her daughter. Dr. Gilmore, thought Lorelai, that's odd, Gilmore had after all been her maiden name, why on Earth would she take the name of the woman who had abandoned her?

"Chief, the new interns are here." Dr. Abdoo alerted her.

"Thanks Gypsy." Lorelai nodded in recognition and headed out of her office wearing her lab coat. She continued to walk at a steady beat even though more than anything she wanted to let her feet shake and tremble. Lorelai was the first female Chief of Surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, it was something major, and she hadn't gotten her position by giving into nerves. Surgeons didn't get nervous, and Lorelai was a damn good surgeon. She entered the operating room of perspective surgeons, and could immediately feel the vibe, the vibe that alerted her how desperately they all wanted to be here. Lorelai sighed and began her speech, "Welcome to the Columbia surgical program. The five years you spend at this hospital as surgical residents will be the most stressful, tragic, but yet rewarding time of your life. Look around you, these people will be your enemies, your friends, hell even your lovers, but each and every one of them is your competition. You will be worked to the core, some of you will strive off the work load, and others of you will fail..."

The Operating Room door opened, and a woman with light brown hair, and sharp blue eyes came in. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail. She looked nervous, and blushed a deep scarlet. Her blue eyes struck Lorelai, and she realized this late comer was her daughter. She had to be, she had the perfect mix of traits between Christopher and Lorelai. She was definitely Lorelai's daughter. Lorelai looked at her and made sure her voice didn't crack, "I presume you're Dr. Gilmore?"

The room of surgeons seemed surprised that the Chief of Surgery was able to tell who the late comer was when she hadn't even taken attendance. The girl however did not seem surprised, figuring they must have taken attendance, replied, "Yes, M'am, I apologize for my lateness. It won't happen again."

"I should hope not…" Lorelai said, examining her daughter. She had beautiful brown hair, and those eyes were amazing. She had had the same eyes when she was only a month old, and they had amazed Lorelai even then, it was twenty five years later. Lorelai sighed and continued on, "As I was saying some of you will strive and others will fail. The Operating Room is your arena, and this is your game. Play well, and you will be rewarded. Play poorly, and the team will make you a free agent. Understand?"

Lorelai looked over the crowd, and each student made nodded. She said, "Right…well then I guess go to the locker room, change into your lab coats, and scrubs, that you got from human resources."

Everyone huddled out of the operating room, Lorelai shouted, and called out, "Sterilize Operating Room Number 5."

* * *

Rory found her locker without much trouble. She slipped into her scrubs, and put on her lab coat. She felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned around to see a doctor with long blond hair. She was serious looking, and had brown eyes.

"Yes?" Rory asked politely.

"You're Dr. Gilmore, right?" The blond girl asked.

Rory nodded, "Or you can just call me Rory."

"I'm Paris Geller." Paris said awkwardly, "Who's your Resident?"

"Dr. Abdoo?" Rory said not sure if she was saying the resident's name correctly.

Paris nodded excitedly, "I have her too. I heard they call her the Nazi, I also heard let they let a Volleyball Player into the program, I mean Olympic Standing, although from what I heard she made her money through doing Sports Illustrated Shoots."

"Really?" Rory asked, "That's going to do a lot for her Professionalism."

"Exactly what I'm saying…" Paris replied, scanning the room for there Resident, when her eyes landed on the Middle Eastern woman, and read her name tag, "That's the Nazi?"

"She doesn't look like a Nazi…" Said a guy with blond curly hair, and the face of an eight year old, Rory and Paris glanced at the guy in question, "I'm umm Brad Langford."

"No one asked you Bambi." Paris spit.

"Maybe they call her the Nazi because of jealously. Maybe she's brilliant, and people couldn't handle the fact that a woman of a minority could be so brilliant, so they make her feel less than she is. Maybe she's a real sweetheart." Said a girl with short dirty blond hair said.

"Let me guess you're the model." Paris said in a deadpan, the other girl simply glared at her, and headed up to Dr. Abdoo.

"Hi! I'm Janet Billings. I'm really excited to start work…" Janet began in the perkiest voice, Rory had ever heard.

Dr. Abdoo glared at her, "I have five rules. Memorize them. Rule number one, don't bother sucking up. I already hate you that is not going to change. Traumas protocol, phone lists, pagers. The nurses will page you; you answer every page at a run. A RUN! That's rule number two. On call rooms. Sleep when you can, where you can. Rule number three; if I am sleeping do not wake me up unless a patient is dying. That brings us to rule number four, the dying patient better not be dead when I get there, because not only will you have killed someone, you will have woken me for no good reason. Clear?"

Rory hesitated before raising her hand; Dr. Abdoo glared at her, and then hissed, "Yes?"

"Well um you said there were five rules…" Rory hesitated, "And you only said four."

Just then Dr. Abdoo's pager went off, as did the rest of the interns. Dr. Abdoo shouted as she started to run, "Rule Number Five: When I move, you move."

* * *

Rory Gilmore glanced as the paramedics wheeled the girl in, she was having random seizures. One of the paramedics pulled the girls case file, and shoved it towards Rory, Dr. Abdoo was settling the girl down in the bed, and Dr. Abdoo glared at her, "Present the case!"

"Right," Rory said quietly, "Samantha O'Brien, female age 15, suffering from seizures."

"Treatment method?" Dr. Abdoo asked, still holding her glare.

Rory thought about it, "Find the root of the seizures, though CT Scans and MRIs, when the reason is found, we will fix it in whatever way we can. Till the root is called, she should go on Dilantin, to prevent further seizures."

"Good, you got the case. Also call for a Neuro-consult." Dr. Abdoo ordered, and left the room.

As Rory quickly scribbled in the chart, and began making notes in the chart, the girl cracked open her eyes, Rory smiled, "How are you doing?"

"Oh just terrific." Samantha bit, "Having seizures is such a wonderful experience."

"Don't worry, we're going to do our best to find out what's causing the seizures, and fix it. Okay?" Rory asked.

Samantha frowned, "That's what they always say, but it's never fixed, it's been like this for six months. And each time I'm just discharged on Dilantin."

"Well we're going to do everything we can." Rory assured her, and quickly headed out, and walked to the Nurse's station, "I need a neuro-consult."

"That's nice." The nurse deadpanned, as she continued to fill out the chart.

Rory was shocked, "Um aren't you going to do something? Like maybe set up the neuro consult?"

"I have thousands of charts to do, and I do not bust my ass for interns. Residents? Maybe, but not interns." The nurse replied, "Our neurosurgeon is Dr. Mariano, he's in the Doctor's lounge."

Rory sighed, and raised her hand in defeat as she headed into the doctors lounge. She looked around the lounge, noticing tow tables, and a vending machine there were only two doctors in the room, Rory said loudly, "Um Dr. Mariano?"

He turned around, and Rory gasped. There he was the same guy she had kicked out of her bed this morning. The same guy she'd made love to all of last night. His dark hair looked as if it had been gelled since she had last seen him, and he looked much more sober. She looked down, maybe he wouldn't recognize her. No such luck.

"Rory?" He asked with a smirk. When Jess had one night stands they never showed up at the hospital, they just disappeared. Jess had known this girl was different since the moment he met her, he had known. He had felt some type of connection, and now he was even more sure of a connection. Fate was doing him a favor.

"I'd prefer you address me as Dr. Gilmore." Rory stated, her face was getting red. She couldn't believe what an embarrassing event was taking place; Rory would give anything to go back in time right about now.

"Fine, Dr. Gilmore, would you like to have dinner with me tonight?" Jess quizzed.

Rory rolled her eyes, "I need a neuro consult for my patient. She suffers from seizures, and we need to find the source."

"You owe me dinner. I was drunk and good looking, and you took advantage, I think the least you could do would be go out to dinner with me." Jess smiled.

"First of all you're not that good looking," She lied, "And anyway you're a smart guy, you can make yourself forget last night."

Jess smirked, "What about last night? I'll do your neuro-consult after lunch Dr. Gilmore."

"Thank you," Rory said gratefully and walked away, awkwardly.

* * *

Meanwhile Paris, Janet, and Brad were sitting in the cafeteria enjoying a brief lunch break. Paris was shoving food down her system, and Brad was eating a hamburger. Janet sat there, and twiddled her fork in the salad.

"Aren't you hungry?" Brad asked Janet, in a concerned voice.

Janet shook her head, "No, I did seven rectal exams. The Nazi hates me." She sighed, "This is not why I went to medical school. To spend my whole day doing rectal exams. I'm a surgeon."

"You're a volleyball player." Paris rolled her eyes, and continued eating.

Janet was going to make a comeback, but luckily Dr. Wilcox entered the room. He had dark brown, curly hair. He looked nerdy, but yet he was a renowned cardio-vascular surgeon, he was part of the reason Paris had come into the program. He smiled, "Good morning interns."

Paris was the first to offer her hand, "Dr. Wilcox? I'm Paris, Paris Geller. I'm a fan!"

"Thank you," Dr. Wilcox said coldly, "So I'm not sure if you know, but every year I choose an intern to be my person, this intern is always the most promising intern, and they are usually the intern that is bound for success. So with that said…"

Paris held her breath; she was going to get chosen to work with Dr. Wilcox, her hero. The thing she had dreamed of doing since she understood surgery. She got her smile ready.

"Langford, you're my guy." Dr. Wilcox said, and with that he hastily walked away.

Paris and Brad's mouths dropped open in shock. Paris was the first to speak, "He chose you?!"

"He chose me." Brad said quietly, as if he said it louder, it would no longer be true.

"Of course he chose you!" Janet said encouragingly, and patted him on the shoulder, "You're a legitimate surgeon, you're good, and you wouldn't have gotten into the program if you weren't. So don't let Paris's meanness discourage, you're just as good as she is, and she's just jealous."

Paris simply said, "Says the model."

* * *

"Hello Samantha. I'm Dr. Mariano, I'm a neurosurgeon. Meaning I perform surgery on the brain, and I want to find out what's wrong with you." Jess said trying to be comforting.

Samantha sighed, "So do I, doesn't mean it's going to happen."

"Can I ask you a few questions?" Dr. Mariano asked.

The patient shrugged, "Whatever."

Jess nodded, "So have you been having headaches?"

The girl nodded.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how severe?" Jess asked feeling as if he was getting closer.

"9.8" Samantha said quietly, and Rory scribbled the number down in her chart.

Dr. Mariano nodded, "Dr. Gilmore will take you to get a CT scan. Dr. Gilmore, may I speak to you in the hall?"

Rory followed him out into the hall, "Look I really can't deal with you asking me out right now, I should be with her. She needs a doctor by her side."

"Are you crazy?" Jess asked, "God, I just wanted to let you know you're looking for a mass it the cerebellum."

"An astrocytoma? But seizures rarely show up as a symptom for those." Rory told him.

Jess nodded, "Which is probably why past doctors can't diagnose her, because they don't think it's possible. Well I'm going to check, because I'm not letting that girl leave this hospital till she's treated and diagnosed."

"I'll get the CT." Rory told him, and went back into the room.

* * *

"Popcorn, get your popcorn!" A blond headed boy was screaming in the observatory. Janet frowned, Brad was suiting up to scrub in, and here was this blond dickhead selling popcorn.

"You're selling popcorn? Seriously? Seriously?!" Janet demanded, and glared at the blond man, his name tag read Logan Huntzburger.

Logan laughed, "Gotta pay the rent somehow. Might as well do it while we watch Bambi screw up."

"You're an ass." Janet decided. She turned her attention to the other interns. There were some eating popcorn, and some just sitting there.

Suddenly one said, "Eighty bucks says that he kills the guy."

"Two hundred says he takes Wilcox down too, by mistake." Paris said.

Janet was getting annoyed, and hissed, "Five hundred says he pulls it off, that's one of us down there, guys!"

* * *

As soon as Rory got the CT scan, she paged Dr. Mariano, he came with in five minutes to the lab room, she frowned, "You were right."

Jess nodded, and looked deeper into the image, "This can't wait, we need to operate before the tumor spreads. Book an Operating Room, you can scrub in."

Rory nodded, "God, how do you tell a fifteen year old she has cancer? How do you do that to the girl? It must break her heart; does it get easier over time?"

Jess shook his head, "It never becomes easier. We learn to deal with it, but every time we break a person's heart, we feel miserable. It never gets easier when dealing with human emotions. Book an operating room, and prep Samantha for surgery."

* * *

"Alright Langford," Dr. Wilcox said, "Make the incision."

Brad did what he was asked, he was nervous. He had barely passed medical school, and it was a big shock that he'd even been accepted into a surgical program, let alone one at one of the country's most prestigious hospital. He sighed, and everyone was watching him, this wasn't doing anything for his nerves. Wilcox should have just chosen Paris.

"The skin is a tough cell, Brad. We want cuts, not scratches." Wilcox encouraged.

Brad nodded, and made a deep cut, he saw the appendix, and with a nod of encouragement for Dr. Wilcox, he took them out. The gallery burst into cheers, some sarcastic and some serious. Marty silenced them by shooting them the evil glare.

"Almost done," he encouraged. "Now very gently pull the strings, being careful not to…snap them," As Brad finished, the patient began to bleed. "You've got a hole quickly bleeding out, what do you do, Brad?"

Brad knew he knew what he had to do, but at the moment, he couldn't remember what came next, he frowned, he had froze, on his first day of his surgical internship.

"Come on, Brad," Janet cheered.

"He's choking," Paris decided, she was slightly relieved that no one would beat her as best surgeon, however she felt sorry for the guy, it must suck to freeze up on your first day of a major surgery.

"He's going to pass out right there." Logan commented as he at his popcorn.

"Langford. Do something before the patient bleeds to death," Marty told him with compassion, but as Brad looked liked he wasn't about to make a move, Dr. Wilcox snapped, "Move it, idiot," and took over the surgery.

* * *

Dr. Gilmore exited the Operating Room with a big smile on her face, she was followed by Dr. Mariano, "We got it all. She is going to live a long life."

Rory said nothing, and Jess asked, "Something wrong?"

Rory shook her head, "I just can't get over it. Wow. I just can't believe that I cut a human body opened; I can't believe I watched you remove that tumor. I can't believe something that fun, saved that girl's life. It's just amazing that's what it is. It's a high, a natural high. I don't think I can ever understand why people do drugs."

Jess nodded and smiled at how excited she was, "Yeah."

"Well I'll see you tomorrow. Dr. Mariano." Rory blushed.

Jess nodded, "Yeah later Dr. Gilmore."

* * *

Rory walked into the Doctor's lounge, and saw Paris sitting at the table. She placed a dollar into the vending machine, and got a bottle of water in return. Satisfied, Rory, opened the bottle, and drank. She slid into a seat next to Paris, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Going over an appendectomy, I don't want to have another Brad happen to me." She admitted.

"What happened with that?" Rory asked, scared to know the answer.

"He froze with appendix in his hand, the patient almost bled out." Paris told her.

"Poor Brad." Rory said quietly.

"Yeah well, what kept you busy?" Paris asked.

"I scrubbed in on an astrocytoma." Rory admitted.

"Bitch." Paris decided, with a half smile.

Rory didn't know why, but at that moment she really wanted to get it off her chest, "I slept with Dr. Mariano. Last night. I didn't know he was a doctor, I just met him at a bar, and took him home."

"Well McDreamy is very McSexy, I can't blame you." Paris told her.

Rory raised an eyebrow, "McDreamy?"

"That's what all the nurses call him. God, catch up on hospital gossip." Paris said.

Janet and Brad entered the room and took seats. Brad started talking, "Everyone is calling me 007."

"No they're not!" Janet insisted.

"007?" Paris questioned.

"Licensed to kill." Rory explained, giving Brad a sympathy look.

Paris rolled her eyes, "As in James Bond?"

"The very same." Rory told her.

Paris glanced at Brad, and reexamined him, "You are definitely not James Bond. You don't have the look or style or babes."

"That's the nicest thing you said all day." Janet told her.

Paris rolled her eyes, and Rory and Brad laughed.

_I can't think of a single reason why I should be a surgeon, but I can think of a thousand reasons why I should quit. They make it hard on purpose... there are lives in our hands. There comes a moment when it's more than just a game, and you either take that step forward or turn around and walk away. I could quit but here's the thing, I love the playing field._

* * *

AN: Review Please 


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